Roy Acuff, God, and Crazy Tennesseans [VIDEO]
Hank Williams once told a promoter, “for drawing power in the South, it’s Roy Acuff, then God.” Hank wasn’t joking.
Acuff was known as the King of Country Music, and for many years he was the biggest name (and highest paid) entertainer in Nashville. But for my money he’s always been a little bland, played things a little too safe, certainly paved the way for the slick sound of Nashville. But it wasn’t always that way.
Acuff got his start playing rough and rowdy string band music. He sang in old medicine shows and stole wild mountain songs from billies in the hills.
His first band was called “Roy Acuff and his Crazy Tennesseans”, and they were pretty nuts. Playing old-time hillbilly music in blackface. Most of those photos have been scrubbed from the internet and from most Nashville archives.
There’s a side of country music that Music City doesn’t want you to see (or remember).
Eventually Acuff ditched the blackface and changed his band’s name to “Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys”. Needless to say, the Smoky Mountain Boys had a cleaner, more polished sound. The stuff that you would recognize as “country music” today – not the wild, frantic, string band jive of the Crazy Tennesseans.
All the polish and cleaning aside, Acuff is fascinating. His early music is fantastic, his later music is important, and there would be no Nashville without him.
I recorded one of his tunes many years ago, and always wanted to make an unexpected music video out of the recording. Pair something that doesn’t make any sense with the lyrics and vibe. Here it is. There’s a lot I would do differently if I had the time and money, but perfection isn’t the plan. Polish isn’t the plan. Staying a Crazy Tennesseean is.
If the good Lord’s willin’, and the creek don’t rise, I’ll see ya again real soon!
Cheers,
Jack
